Ruthenium and ruthenium-based alloy materials are increasingly utilized in the manufacture of a number of advanced technology products, e.g., as coupling layers in high performance, high areal recording density anti-ferromagnetically coupled (“AFC”) magnetic recording media and as adhesion/seed layers in copper-based “back-end” metallization systems of high integration density semiconductor integrated circuit (“IC”) devices. Such layers are typically formed by sputter deposition processing, e.g., magnetron sputtering, utilizing Ru or Ru-based alloy targets. However, use of the sputtering targets in a given application is limited due to consumption of the target over time, primarily because of concern of target penetration due to irregular or uneven (i.e., local) sputtering over the target surface. Economic considerations arising from the high cost of Ru and Ru-based alloys dictate recovery of these materials from spent targets.
Conventional methodology for recycling Ru and Ru-based alloy materials, e.g., from spent targets, typically involves chemical refining processing. However, such chemical refining processing incurs a number of disadvantages, including:                extremely long processing intervals, e.g., on the order of about 12 weeks;        high cost;        porous and highly agglomerated nature of the recycled product, rendering it undesirable for use in subsequent fabrication of new targets; and        relatively low tap density of the recycled product powder, i.e., about 4.0 gm/cc on average, necessitating increase in the packing density prior to target formation.        
In view of the foregoing, there exists a clear need for improved, more cost effective methodology for recycling Ru and Ru-based alloy materials for facilitating re-use thereof, e.g., as in the manufacture of Ru and Ru-based deposition targets (such as sputtering targets) using recycled materials.
Further, there exists a clear need for improved, cost-effective deposition targets comprising recycled Ru and Ru-based alloy materials.